Journal

Please use one of the prompts below to get your journaling started.

• Explore your fears and what’s behind them.
• Write about a relational conflict you are experiencing.
• List out all that you are grateful for.
• Recall a significant reaction, conversation or event.

• Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:
  • A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
  • A Guide to Self-Reflection
  • A Chart to help articulate feelings

Commentary

Commentary for Chapters 1-11

CHAPTER 12 COMMENTARY

CHAPTER 13 COMMENTARY

CHAPTER 14 COMMENTARY

CHAPTER 15 COMMENTARY

CHAPTER 16 COMMENTARY

Bible Text

Acts 16:16-24 (ESV)

¹⁶ As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” ¹⁸ And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

¹⁹ But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. ²⁰ And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. ²¹ They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” ²² The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. ²³ And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. ²⁴ Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

Go Deeper

Acts 16:16-24

• Think about the slave girl who “brought her owners much gain” through her demon-possession. What does Paul’s deliverance of the girl do for her? For her owners? For Paul and Silas?
• Notice the charges against Paul that the owners of the slave girl bring to the magistrates (vv. 20-21). Why might they have phrased their grievance against Paul in this way?
• Who might be similarly threatened by the gospel’s impact on people today?
• How does this passage identify, inspire or commission me?

Prayer